Electronic equipment systems, such as rack-mounted video equipment for example, often contain electronic circuit cards which are inserted at the front of a frame. The rear of the frame is typically densely populated with cables, making it difficult to access for operations other than cable connections. This necessitates the blind-mating of connector(s) on the circuit cards and mating receptacles or connectors on a distribution mid-plane or a rear module with cable terminations, for instance.
Connectors such as butt-contact fiber connectors require a compressive force to be sustained within a certain range. Some systems rely on mating of electrical connector(s) on a circuit card and their receptacles to hold fiber connectors in connection with their mating fiber receptacles. However, in these types of systems it can be difficult to control forces of card insertion and/or removal. Also, in order to have more fiber connectors, more electrical connectors are needed just as a mechanical fixture.
Other currently available systems involve implementing mechanical latch designs, which tend to require high part counts and can be subject to complexity in design due to frame system-level mechanical tolerances.